In spite of the upward trend in my life over the last couple of months, tonight I am just feeling so alone and deeply sad….both indications of a depressive episode. All indications are that my life will continue to trend upward. But Sam Harris’ rendition of the Bonnie Raitt classic I Can’t Make You Love Me is just speaking for me. I love the phrasing, his obvious pain and the fact that he didn’t over sing it….none of those ridiculous runs that prevent you from hearing the raw ache of the melody. I was able to sing like this until heart failure and other complications robbed me of my singing voice. I want his voice….and his hair.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q15TEfhQmho
I CAN’T MAKE YOU LOVE ME
Music and Lyrics by Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin
Turn down the lights, turn down the bed
Turn down these voices inside my head
Lay down with me, tell me no lies
Just hold me close, don’t patronize – don’t patronize me
Cause I can’t make you love me if you don’t
You can’t make your heart feel something it won’t
Here in the dark, in these final hours
I will lay down my heart and I’ll feel the power
But you won’t, no you won’t
‘Cause I can’t make you love me, if you don’t
I’ll close my eyes, then I won’t see
The love you don’t feel when you’re holding me
Morning will come and I’ll do what’s right
Just give me till then to give up this fight
And I will give up this fight
Cause I can’t make you love me if you don’t
You can’t make your heart feel something it won’t
Here in the dark, in these lonely hours
I will lay down my heart and I’ll feel the power
But you won’t, no you won’t
‘Cause I can’t make you love me, if you don’t
13 comments
You are right about that song, he sings it with just the right amount of strength and it’s a perfect delivery. You can feel the heartbreak without him resorting to tricks or vocal antics. You used to be able to sing like that? my kudos to you, i too used to sing before getting ill. I don’t think i was at that good of a level but i loved it.
As for the song lyrics? they really got to me… so i think i’ll go curl into a corner while i still can.
I have Bonnie’s version. It is sad, but indicative of how we settle.
I was diagnosed with MDD once but never found a combo that worked. For years, a couple os supplements held it at bay, but now … it’s a whole different game. Granted, I’ve made this one worse, but here I am.
From your other posts, you know you aren’t really alone, right?
Dat voice
Dem lyrics
Dat hair
11/10 – Turn down the lights, so I can disappear
…and yous can’t see me bawl my eyes from such a beautiful song. Thanks for this bayareaguy. Take it easy out there.
Different things can trigger a depressive episode for me. It was a conjunction of misaligned constellations for me tonight. But I put on the happy face for those I was with and bowed out as soon as I could after the concert. The only one in the group not “with” someone….just like my immediate family…..the proverbial 5th wheel. I know it sounds trite, but it was kind of like the last straw today……………………..
It’s just one of those times when my Guardian Angel is headed straight for the pub where he has a running tab and an assigned seat. What I put that poor angel through, sometimes…………
I’ll bet you could be with someone if you really wanted to be. You’re probably not a settler.
Does your angel ever pick up the tab, or does he just run one? ;^}
The brighter days will only help.
I sang with small folk groups (I’m a child of the late 60’s) and on stage in supporting and leading roles. My warmest recollections are roles in Man of La Mancha (twice), Fiddler on the Roof (twice), West Side Story, Oklahoma, The King and I and South Pacific. I was a lyric tenor….not any more. And back then I had hair and a waistline.
As for being alone…..my last relationship ended in 1997. I’ve neither touched nor been touched by anyone since then…thus my dysfunctional relationship with loneliness.
You can’t look back jay. About a year after getting ill, I decided I needed to focus on new things I hoped to do, because longing for what might never be again didn’t help me.
I know you like music, but it might also have potential to make you look back. Community theater? Might be a good place to meet folks.
Waistlines are over-rated and require increasing maintenance. I used to run marathons and have eight pack abs. Now I’m doing well if I can manage the increasing hygiene burden.
Hair can also be over-rated. You have to schedule the cut, wait, pay for it. At least we live in an age where the shaved head can be cool.
I acted and directed in community theater for many years. With the exception of small towns, like several hours from major cities, it’s dead and gone. I live in the 6th largest city in the USA….all 5 of the community theater groups closed their doors in the last 10 years.
I played and was ranked in city tennis tournaments. I can’t do that anymore. My siblings and all of my nieces and nephews are married….every time I’m with them I feel like I’m on the Island of Misfit Toys. And tonight, being in a fair sized group of people, ALL of them couples, it was just too much.
I have my delightful (sincerely) church on Sundays where I can still sing a little in our Chant Choir (love Gregorian) but that’s about it. Again. pretty much the only person there my age who is single.
I know I will feel better in the morning….I just need to get there.
My Angel has an open tab. I don’t drink, never have, never will….alcoholism is on both sides of the family. Never done an illegal drug……I’m freaking boring!
You are not alone.
That constant that you say is in your inmediate family? same here, either by divorce or never having a lasting relationship (count me on the last group). Everyone else around me is either married, or walking down that path. Even my exgf (who is younger than me) seems to be getting ready to marry to a guy who has been with her for 1/3 of the time we were together.
Even if it doesn’t look like it, it happens more than you think. Maybe lack of drinking and drugs is the problem, since i don’t do either and never have. Stupid theory but who knows, i might start drinking and doing drugs just to see if it’s correct, lol.
I listened to both Sam and Bonnie’s version. They’re both amazing. Bonnie (I speak her name as if she’s a close personal friend or a revered Goddess. I’ve been listening to her since 1970 when she began. Great great artist, one of a kind voice, beautiful woman…I …I …well…I love her!!) I have never heard of Sam Harris until just now, but wow…wow.
Hope you find your way through this depression of misaligned constellations. May your guardian Angel do his job and keep you safe.
Randall…..Sam Harris won the singing competition portion on the 1st ever Star Search in the 80’s. He sang “Over The Rainbow” and the show retired the song. If anyone in the singing competition ever tried to sing that song they were shut down. I thin k he won the entire competition. Today we have America’s Got Talent, which is, essentially, the same thing, except it was ALL phone in votes and no celeb judges.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Search
Been listening to this since you posted it, thanks. It’s comforting to me for some reason.